By DOUGLAS JEHL

Published: September 22, 2004

The Senate Intelligence Committee cleared the way on Tuesday for Representative Porter J. Goss, Republican of Florida, to win confirmation as the next director of central intelligence, with three Democrats joining all nine Republicans on the panel in endorsing Mr. Goss's nomination.

The 12-to-4 vote by the committee sent Mr. Goss's nomination to the Senate floor, where debate was scheduled to begin Wednesday. The strength of the vote left no doubt that the nomination would win full Senate approval.

Mr. Goss, a former C.I.A. officer who was chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, would replace George J. Tenet, who took over in 1997 and resigned this year.

The ranking Democrat on the panel, Senator John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia, was among those voting against Mr. Goss's nomination, saying he had ''repeatedly used intelligence issues for partisan purposes'' during his tenure on the House panel. But even Mr. Rockefeller made clear that he regarded Mr. Goss's confirmation as imminent.

''I sincerely hope that Porter Goss proves my vote wrong and becomes an independent and exceptional'' director, Mr. Rockefeller said in a statement.

Senator Pat Roberts, Republican of Kansas and chairman of the committee, said in a statement that he believed Mr. Goss's experience ''in both oversight and as an intelligence officer makes him uniquely qualified to lead the intelligence community as we debate its critical reforms.''

The committee voted in closed session, and only the vote total was made public. But Congressional officials said the three other Democrats who voted against the nomination were Senators Carl Levin of Michigan, Ron Wyden of Oregon and Richard J. Durbin of Illinois. The Democrats voting for Mr. Goss were Senators Evan Bayh of Indiana, Dianne Feinstein of California and Barbara A. Mikulski of Maryland, the officials said.

Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee, is on the committee but did not cast a vote on Mr. Goss's nomination, the Congressional officials said. Mr. Edwards has been campaigning but he could have voted by proxy.

A spokeswoman for Mr. Edwards did not return a telephone call seeking comment.

In the hearings, Democrats questioned whether Mr. Goss could be independent enough. In a telephone interview on Tuesday, Mr. Wyden said, ''After extensively scrutinizing his long record and repeated questioning, I'm not convinced that Porter Goss will rock the boat to make the changes in the intelligence community that are necessary to make America as safe as possible.''

But in a separate telephone interview, Mr. Bayh said, ''I didn't find that the assertions of undue partisanship or lack of independence were substantial enough to disqualify Mr. Goss.''